Internet Marketing, Social Media, and Blogging TIps

Enter your email address...

9 Ways to Get More Likes on Your Facebook Page

Having a Facebook page is a great way to reach a new audience where they already go every day to peruse their newsfeeds. The more people who “like” your page, the wider your potential audience. Every time someone “likes” your page or a post on your page, comments on an update on your page, or shares one of your updates, your content is visible on their timelines — for all their friends to see in their newsfeeds. So let’s say John has 600 Facebook friends — if he comments on your latest Facebook page post, your post has the potential to be seen by 600 new people. Social endorsement is a powerful motivator, so this activity will encourage your fans’ friends to see what you’re all about.

So the question is — how to do you start getting more likes?

1. Create exclusive like-gated content

A like-gate is a custom tab, a.k.a. a reveal tab, on your Facebook page in which people who have liked your page already can see some sort of exclusive content. Everyone else — people who haven’t liked your page yet — will only see messaging that they need to like your page to get your content. Since your timeline content is visible to anyone –whether they liked your page or not — this like-gate gives people the motivation to like your page so that they can get something that’s free or exclusive.

Here’s an example of a like-gate in action on U Stand Out’s Facebook page. This is what viewers see if they haven’t yet liked the page — the free download is locked:

This is what people who have liked the page can see — they now have access to the form where they can get their free download:

Major brands use this like-gating strategy as well. Here’s one of Sephora’s custom tabs pre-like:

After the viewer likes the page, the prompt to like the page disappears, and the viewer can now click through to the application:

2. Promote your like-gate offer at the top of your Facebook page

Once you’ve created your like-gate, customize your tab image to promote your exclusive content. Make sure that this tab is visible in the top row of images so that visitors to your Facebook page can see this offer. Remember — you can only link people directly to this like-gated tab if you’re running Facebook ads

3. Add a Facebook Like Box to your website or blog

A Facebook Like Box is a widget you can add to your website that lets your visitors like your Facebook page without ever needing to leave your website.

You can also include images of people who have already liked your Facebook page. If one of your website visitors have Facebook friends who have already liked your page, she will see her friends’ images in this view. Again, Facebook helps you use the power of social endorsement to your advantage.

4. Update your Facebook timeline regularly

You should update your Facebook page timeline on a regular basis with new posts, updates, pictures, polls, etc. In fact, you should try to add something new to your Facebook page every single day. Not doing so would be a missed opportunity — every time you post something, your fans might engage with your content, leading a new audience to your Facebook page. Also, if your page has been dormant for weeks or months, you’ll get fewer likes from people who visit your page, see the lack of activity, and leave.

To help you stay organized, use a social media content calendar to plan out your content schedule for the upcoming month. This will make it easier to manage a consistent content stream — you won’t have to remember to brainstorm new content every single day.

5. Make sure your fans are part of the conversation

Don’t just post self-promotional content on your Facebook page. Instead, engage your fans in the conversation. Ask questions and share the content that they post to your Facebook page. Showing fans that your care about them and their opinions will encourage them to engage with your content more frequently, this increasing your exposure in their friends’ newsfeeds. It’s a win win.

You can also create polls to increase interaction on your Facebook page.

6. Know your audience

If you don’t know enough about your audience, you won’t know how to inspire them. If you can’t inspire them, you won’t get them to interact with you on your Facebook page, and your like-growth will be very slow. Asking questions on a regular basis on your page will help you understand more about what your audience likes, cares about, and wants to hear more from you about. Then post updates that you know will interest them — not just updates that help you promote yourself.

7. Respond to your fans

If your fans post something on your timeline, or comment on one of your updates, always respond to them — especially when the activity level is manageable enough to do so. Answer their questions and participate in the conversation yourself. Even if they just say something like “thank you” or “great picture” — comment and say thanks, or “like” their comment.

8. Pay for new likes

Facebook’s ad platform lets you create ads that specifically promote your Facebook page. If you have the budget, you can use this ad platform to get more likes from a targeted audience. This is a great way to jump-start your fan growth if you’re first getting started. Once you have momentum, it can be easier to grow your fan base organically.

Facebook lets you highly target your audience. You can target them based on typical demographic criteria, such as age, gender, education level, and so forth. But you can also target them by the specific school they attend or company that they work at, and even by interest according to what they’ve liked before.

Best of all, you can create ads that link directly to your like-gated tab. That means that new viewers will see the pre-like message promoting your exclusive content right away, so they’ll have the motivation to like your page. Choosing your like-gated tab as your landing view would be much more effective than landing them on your timeline.

GET UPDATES FROM ME DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.

About Diana Urban

Diana Urban is the author of the U Stand Out ebooks and blog teaching people how to do online marketing using content marketing, social media, and SEO strategies. By day she's a marketer -- currently at Localytics, previously at HubSpot. Tweet at @DianaUrban or like her Facebook page to stay connected!

Diana, is there an on Facebook that helps you have a fangate, get the like from the fan, and then ask for an optin before downloading a free report? I am doing it all manually but not having much luck at the final stage.

Thanks for the reply. I was already using the Static HTML even though you can do it all manually on your own website. I was trying to replicate the lead generation from what one of Hubspot partners was doing and that I liked a lot: getting a like and an optin in one go from a simple freebie. I just thought if there was an even simpler way of doing it or another app that you used, but I guess not, nothing in life comes without work.
What I was/am doing is using the static html which is pulling the before and after content from my own website. The “after Like” content has an optin for a service like Aweber (not Aweber, I’m oddly using a better service developed by some people here in Portugal), and after they optin they are redirected to another page, however the degree of customization of the ‘after opt-in’ page state is what is troubling me… but I will get it fixed eventually.
In either case, thanks for letting me know how you’re doing things. I’ve learned a lot by replicating other people’s ideas… no need to reinvent the wheel. I am on your list by the way, not sure with which email, but I’m there.

Yeah… on this tab: http://www.facebook.com/UStandOut/app_190322544333196, I’m using Static HTML with a HubSpot form that’s visible post-like. My version is very simple, it’s really just images — most of the people that buy my ebook don’t know how to code, so this is a very simple way to make like-gating work (all you need to know is how to embed an image, and the form is optional).
I don’t know if it would be possible to find an app that embeds the form for you because it would require them hosting your lead database, and that is, in and of itself, a whole product. So I think the method I described above is, at this point, the most simple way to do this.

Growing Facebook followers (or subscribers) can be a very difficult organic task sometimes. I have been using Social Fat Boy (http://www.socialfatboy) for my connections, and actually just closed a few deals from the subscribers / followers I got there. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

First of all thank you for putting these ways together at one place. I am newbie to this and working out on my facebook page. I will definitely gonna try the above listed ways. Thank you for posting this article.

Hi, i believe which i found a person went to this site hence i came to give back the choose? . We’re looking for challenges to improve this site! Maybe it’s good enough to take advantage of several of your ideas!

I am in process to promote my website page and having difficult time. Currently looking for more tips for promoting my facebook page. Thanks for this article. I will try to implement these tricks and will see how it goes.

For increase social network fans for free, I recommend to put your social page on http://www.be-popular.net/?peslang=en, this service works for facebook, twitter, youtube, soundcloud, pinterest, instagram, and many more !
Peace;)

Great share Diana and great tips. I love #5 and #7. Make sure your Fans are part of the conversation, and then engage your Fans. To me those 2 go hand in hand, because they are just like carrying a normal conversation with a live Human Being. They have to talk as well, and then you have to respond to what they say. Again, great tips… Thanks For Posting, James Dazouloute

Great article and really helpful tips. I took some of your advices and got great results. I found a great App to get connected called Fanwave-https://apps.facebook.com/joinfanwave/, and with your tips, my page exploded:). Thank you!

Really good tips i just wanted to add my 2 cents i just found this site called socialmediaexplode.com its a really cool way to boost your fan page likes and get the word spreed oh and its 100% free to use you should make add it to the list

Thank you for this article. A lot of people forgets to find a target audience. Facebook helps a lot with their Insights how this audience behave. I also linked my facebook and twitter account which it helps too.

I follow your tips (which I know they work) and a tool that help to get visitors to your site to mention your link on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. in exchange for a bonus that you can give them of whatever you want (a discount, an ebook, a video, etc. — anything). Click here for more information: http://bit.ly/1fKIeec

It automatically lets them post the message and receive the bonus in real time.